The solar eclipse captured the attention of all ages.

Jimmy Richtscheit is getting ready to start the 8th grade and said he realizes how historic this event is.

“I just wanted to see something that hasn’t been around since what 1979?” Jimmy said.

He’s right, the last time a solar eclipse hovered over the United States was in 1979.

But the last time you could actually see one in State College was back in the 1400’s.

Kevin Luhman, a Professor at PSU in the Dept. of Astronomy said “I don’t think that people realize quite how rare they are.”

He said back then it was a mysterious occurrence.

Over the years we’ve learned it happens during the new moon phase when the moon comes between the Earth and sun.

“And so at that time a shadow is cast by the moon that falls across the Earth, across a small portion of the Earth.” Luhman said. “For any given location on Earth it only happens once every 400 years.”

A beautiful sight., if you have the right gear.

ISO filtered glasses are required to see the eclipse without causing eye damage.

While they were a hot commodity, some created makeshift gadgets to catch a projection of it.

“I can tell my kids, my grandkids, I can tell kids at school that I got to see it,” Jimmy said.

Luhman said it’s great to see people get excited about a major natural event and in a way the future of science depends on it.

“Well many of the pressing problems in society are going to require scientific solutions and so we need to recruit as many children into areas of science as possible,” Luhman said.

“Whenever I grow up, I would like to be maybe an astronomer, so I’m really happy to be here,” Jimmy said.

The next time the United States will see a total solar eclipse will be in 2024, and the path of totality is projected to include Pennsylvania.